Statoil shares jump on earnings, progress on costs

OSLO/LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Statoil (Xetra: 675213 - news) cheered investors on Thursday with better-than-expected profits, progress in lowering breakeven prices for important projects and a modest spending plan for 2016. Statoil announced a quarterly dividend of $0.2201 per share and pledged to keep it at that level for the first three quarters of this year despite calls from labour unions and some politicians to reduce payouts. "We would have preferred to see a rebasement rather than share